Lee Cataluna is entitled to her opinion, but her intertwining of facts on plastic bags needs to be clarified (“Plastic bags are bad, but good when mayor says so,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 22).

Cataluna’s vague, indirect reference pertains to Ordinance 17-37 (a.k.a. plastic bag ban), which governs the distribution of “plastic checkout bags.”

Cataluna implies the yellow garbage bags handed out in Chinatown are what the mayor was trying to ban. In fact, the mayor never tried to add garbage bags to the banned list, and it’s clear the ordinance exempts the yellow garbage bags being distributed to Chinatown merchants.

Certainly, not everyone is going to agree with elected officials, but the mayor’s initiative to help clean up Chinatown needs to be complimented, not knocked down.

The city and United Public Workers are currently in discussions to implement locking refuse bins in Chinatown, but in the meantime, the yellow trash bags are a good alternative.

Markus Owens

Public information officer, City Dept. of Environmental Services

Click here to read more Letters to the Editor.